Estonia Awards Electronic Passport Contract to Gemalto

Amsterdam and Tallinn, Estonia (ots/PRNewswire) - Gemalto (nasdaq:
GEMP)(Euronext NL 0000400653 GTO), a world leader in digital
security, announces today that it will supply the Citizenship and
Migration Board of Estonian Republic with its e-passport solution for
the future Estonian electronic passport. Under the terms of the
contract, Gemalto will provide the Estonian authorities with a
turnkey solution, from manufacturing and binding of passport
booklets, using Gemalto Setec(i) technology, to the implementation
of the personalization system in the premises of the Citizenship and
Migration Board under the Ministry of Interior. First deliveries are
scheduled to start in early 2007.

The agreement runs through 2012 with a possible extension to 2015.
Considering present passports issuance rates and plans, it could
involve up to one million electronic passports.

Under the contract, Gemalto manufactures the travel documents
including a powerful microchip for biometric identification and
delivers the complete personalisation system to Estonia. Furthermore,
Gemalto provides the Estonian government with enrolment software and
equipment for capturing and digitizing the data, picture and
signature. This comprehensive solution for Estonian Ministry of
Interior illustrates Gemalto's ability to handle the whole value
chain in the e-passport management process.

"Gemalto is proud to have been selected by the Estonian
authorities" said Jacques Seneca, President Europe at Gemalto. "This
agreement is the continuity of our past collaboration on visas. With
the implementation of our end-to-end solution, the authorities and
citizens will benefit from the highest level of security and
convenience, together with compliance with the global standard."

Gemalto's e-passport references include the Czech Republic,
Denmark, France, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore,
Slovenia, Sweden and the United States of America.

(i) Setec is part of the Gemalto group (acquired in 2005). The
Setec technology is incorporated in products such as biometric and
visual passports, electronic and visual ID cards, driving licenses
and health cards.

About Gemalto

Gemalto (Euronext NL 0000400653 GTO) is a leader in digital
security with pro forma 2005 annual revenues of EUR1,7 billion ($2.2
billion), operations in 120 countries and 11,000 employees including
1,500 R&D engineers. The company's solutions make personal digital
interactions secure and easy in a world where everything of value
-from money to entertainment to identities- is increasingly
represented as bits and bytes communicated over networks.

Gemalto thrives on creating and deploying secure platforms,
portable and secure forms of software in highly personal objects like
smart cards, SIMs, e-passports, readers and tokens. More than a
billion people worldwide use the company's products and services for
telecommunications, banking, e-government, identity management,
multimedia content, digital rights management, IT security and other
applications. Gemalto was formed in June 2006 by the combination of
Axalto and Gemplus International S.A. For more information please
visit www.gemalto.com.

Media contact:

Emmanuelle Saby

Telephone number : +33-(0)6-09-10-76-10

emmanuelle.saby@gemalto.com

ots Originaltext: Gemalto
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
Media contact: Emmanuelle Saby, Telephone number :
+33-(0)6-09-10-76-10, emmanuelle.saby@gemalto.com